Other grammatical structures for "Let's call it a day"

Question

I always find let's call it a day in that usual form but I am curious to see if it is possible to use it in other grammatical forms. For example, can I use can/do/should or any other form for that matter?

Sometimes you want to make the suggestion but in a more tentative way. What I am concerned with is the prospect of deviating from the common form. More than one example would help me better see how much wiggle room there is in steering away from the standard form.

None of the dictionaries I have checked answer my question.

Answer 1

The idiom Call it a day means to stop an activity; see, for instance, Collins Dictionary, which has:

to stop work or other activity

Chambers Dictionary defines the idiom similarly:

call it a day to decide to stop doing something, eg finish work, etc.

Merriam-Webster defines the idiom as:

-- call it a day

: to stop for the remainder of the day or for the present whatever one has been doing

In none of these, nor in any of the many other references which define this idiom, is it implied that the idiom must be preceded by the exhortation Let's.

You could, for instance, ask:

Could we call it a day?

You could also ask:

Shall we call it a day?

In idiomatic speech, you might hear:

How about if we call it a day, you guys?

It may also be expressed as a command:

Call it a day now!

In short, the idiom can be used in any context where stop doing sth is appropriate.

Answer 2

These sound fine to me:

• Why not call it a day?
• Perhaps you should call it a day?
• It might be time to call it a day?
• Mind if I call it a day?